Ashley Franz Holzmann

Title: The Laws of Nature: A Collection of Short Stories of Horror, Anxiety, Tragedy and Loss

Author: Ashley Franz Holzmann

ISBN: 9780692339633

Page: 347

Format: Paperback

There is a dark side to human nature that neither can be wished away nor completely mitigated Ashley Holzmann details just several of these Laws of Nature before taking his readers on a journey through the bizarre, the terrifying, and, ultimately, the disturbingly real truths that underlie much of modern American life.Ashley makes his debut into the horror genre with TThere is a dark side to human nature that neither can be wished away nor completely mitigated Ashley Holzmann details just several of these Laws of Nature before taking his readers on a journey through the bizarre, the terrifying, and, ultimately, the disturbingly real truths that underlie much of modern American life.Ashley makes his debut into the horror genre with The Stump, a story about an afternoon trot through the woods that quickly becomes a blood bath and, much as it does for that story s creature, the scent of fear will only lure veteran horror readers further through the forest A teenager s vanity will likely cause his town to be consumed by a roaming swarm of insects that burst forth from his acne riddled skin in White Heads entire populations vanish into the void of the Alaskan tundra in Glass Houses and superiority takes the form of a murdering, sadistic woman in Lady Macbeth But Ashley s best retellings focus less on gore and adrenaline and instead take human psychology as their medium, as demonstrated in Plastic Glasses, where readers are brought into a world of disturbing personality and mental disorders Ashley s work abounds with stories in this vein, stories which grab a hold of a common failing such as marital friction in Hush, or American male frustration in Orpheus s Lot and take it to an extreme that is nevertheless not inconceivable for most people.Coming from the mind of a man who has experienced than his fair share of humanity, The Laws of Nature is, at its finest, a description of universal emotions of loss, nostalgia, anxiety, and soul penetrating terror Ashley s stories elicit empathy from his readers and draw them into worlds where they both acknowledge and cuddle with their fears and which leave them, ultimately, human.

Recent Comments "The Laws of Nature: A Collection of Short Stories of Horror, Anxiety, Tragedy and Loss"

For this review, I am going to have to take a step back and put myself in the shoes of an aspiring author.I’ve got some stories that I want to tell. I’ve put endless hours of time and thought into these stories. I want to know if I have it, that skill of an author to bring people into my world and make them feel what I feel. How should I do this? I’ll take these stories that I have and release them as a collection of short stories so that readers can get to know me as an author.This really [...]

This book is a dark piece of work consisting of short stories arising from fear, pain, horror, death. It consists of different stories that describe the various ways that create the darkness in peoples’ life. The author brings to light the feelings that are mysteriously hidden in the darkest corners of the heart but cast off when they are faced with the moments that can truly squeeze the life out of them. The fear on seeing a ghost and fear tickling down their spine, the guilt of murdering som [...]

A collection of horror stories, often with more of a psychological angle than a supernatural one. The collection opens with "The Stump," a tale of a man confronting the monster who used to lurk under his bed, which takes some decidedly dark turns. "Lady Macbeth" was a strong tale that told about a person interviewing a serial killer and finds herself drawn a little too far into the serial killer's world. Perhaps the one that will stick with me most was "White Heads" about a teen so desperate to [...]

It is a Cold-shivery night. You are under the warmth of your blanket-asleep. Suddenly your sleep is shattered like a broken glass.A nightmare that has of late become a daily feature of your sleep, has struck again today. You know that for the night there will be no more sleep on your eyelids.Are you going to be an insomnia patient?Or the nightmare that haunts you every night has something to deal with your subconscious?And this night-will it be the same as every night or will be something differ [...]

This review was originally posted on Audiobookreviewer. I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. This is a novel of short stories of horror, mental illness, trauma and more. A few of these stories are very unbelievable - The Stump especially but it is more of a horror story. The rest of them are more believable and very creepy. One story that really got to me was Clarissa, the story is set out as an "writer" recording his story about meeting a killer named Clarissa a [...]

The Laws of Nature is full of short horror stories that can really mess with your head. It was a great read. There is a wide variety of subjects written about and every single one of them had something different going on in one aspect or another. This book had me guessing through the entire thing. There were a few that I could figure out what was going to happen, but the majority of the time I was surprised. Several of the stories in this book totally creeped me out, and one in particular actual [...]

This is an absolutely wonderful collection of short stories! Ashley writes these stories in such a hauntingly, thoughtful way that will leave the horror sticking with you forever, sometimes parts of the book creep into my head when I least want them to. I love how it isn't horror in an overly obvious way but instead in a way that picks at every part of your brain as you read them. Definitely a must read!

It is not often that I am actually disturbed by a story. Ashley Franz Holzmann managed to creep me out at least three times in this collection of short stories. Looking forward to more from her in the future.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this one; someone suggested it to me as a more "alternative horror" book. They were right, in a way. I enjoyed the stories, largely because they were in short and very digestible pieces. That said, only a few really struck me as disturbing and creepy.

Stemming from real life experiences to stories of fiction, this anthology of short stories explores the human psych and the genre of horror. The stories are diverse and the author focuses on fear as one of the main points of many of his stories. It is difficult to pick up or pin-point any one story as they are all similar and different in many ways. The author writes in an abstract style, sometimes seeming to be impersonal. Many of the stories are in first person and the rest a narration. Murder [...]

“The Laws of Nature” written by Ashley Franz Holzmann is an anthology that manages to mess with your head and create in reader’s mind kind of sense horror stories suppose to - the thrill and uncertainty.In his collection conveniently subtitled “A Collection of Short Stories of Horror, Anxiety, Tragedy and Loss” the author delivers 19 short stories on diverse themes, made in different style, while this collection ends with the letter from the author in which he explains whole collection [...]

This collection is delicious. It draws you in instantly through the first story, and there’s no way to be released from its grasp until you finished the entire collection. I love the richness of Holzmann’s language that makes his narrative so alive, the various characters (both human and non-human) so vivid, and the tension and suspense palpable in every scene. And considering that the book features a variety of horror stories that cater to so many people who have different tastes, The Laws [...]

It’s been a long time since I was this excited about a new author. Probably one of the best horror anthologies I have read. In “The Laws of Nature” author Ashley Holzmann assembles a collection of the most visceral, disturbing and exciting horror stories that I’ve had the pleasure of reading.Holzmann explores every variation of nightmare possible in this collection, from dark horror fantasy, to the anxiety of the modern human psyche with expert skill. In each story the author find a new [...]

Original Post: booknauthors/2016Another amazing novel that I read! The Laws Of Nature was an amazing mixture of short stories which took my breath away! Each story was unique and flawlessly written! There was so much tension in each story. I finished the book real quick and couldn't stop reading because a) the book was short & b) the stories had too much depression. There were so many I swear so many horror scenes that it was quite actually terrifying. The writing style of the author was ama [...]

Honestly, I did not know what to expect when I picked up this book. I have never been one for short stories. They always seem to short to me, like they are missing so much detail, leaving so much from the story.I have to say this book was unique. It was scary and sad. It was not what I was expecting it to be at all. I can't say I loved it but I can't say it was horrible. Some of the stories were very disturbing to the mind.Stormiboundlessbookreviewsfacebook/BBReviews